The royal commission into financial services is unlikely to involve an extended parade of victims publicly recounting their bad experiences, leading experts believe.

The big four banks' group legal counsels have set up war rooms backed by the country's top lawyers, QCs and accounting firms to focus on responding to the bank royal commission so executives can avoid being distracted from key strategic and operating issues.

Timbercorp victims say they're still living with depression, anxiety and financial hardship almost a decade after the managed investment scheme went bust and they want the banking royal commission to hear their stories to help bring closure to their ordeal.

Former High Court Judge Kenneth Hayne will lead the royal commission into the banking, superannuation and financial services industry.

When, in a desperate attempt last Thursday to head off the push for a royal commission into the financial sector, Treasurer Scott Morrison summonsed the chairmen of the four big banks to test their support for a compensation scheme for bank customers, he unwittingly sparked fresh dialogue between the bank chiefs.

The Turnbull government is working on a 'last resort' compensation scheme for people who have been ripped off by banks and other financial institutions, in a last-ditch move to head off a Nationals push for a banking commission of inquiry.